Raising tax rates will do for the Obama presidency what it did for the Bush 41 presidency: na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, good bye... (and it wouldn't raise any additional revenue).

Cutting tax rates would do for the Obama presidency what it did for the Bush 43 presidency: raise more revenue than if the rates remained the same, and get a guy re-elected despite engaging the country in multiple unpopular wars.

I expect it is inevitable that all our taxes rise, not just rich as Obama wants us to believe. After the next election in Jan 2013, when the Bush tax cuts that already have an "end date" expire , all of our taxes will significantly increase.

When I saw the line about "are we ready for tax increases" , I should have realized Obama is still pretending that cutting taxes on rich only will provide what we need. The Democrats also want spending increases, so the tax increase will do nothing for the deficit situation. Raising taxes on rich alone will only give us peanuts compared to what the US will need to get out of the mess it is in.

If my taxes absolutely have to b eraised so that poor kids have food and shelter, I have no issues with that.

If my taxes need to be raised so we can continue to waste enormous amounts of money, that's another thing...

Our state is spending $600 million to build a 9 mile busway.

Our state, in a terrible ecnomy, offered unionized employees a package that guaranteed no layoffs and a 10% raise over 5 years. Even liberal senator Edith Prague said "The private sector folks would die for this kind of package."

How can we afford to give our public servents greater compensation that what's available to the bublic they claim to serve?

Here's another story...a security guard at a state hospital is fired for falsifying overtime. Instead of going to jail where he belongs, he gets to retire AT AGE 42 with an annual pension of $73,000 for life.

I like supporting legitimate social programs that help those in need. It makes me sick that I'm forced to pay for wasteful pork, and for insanely rich benefits to public servents.

Cut the stupid waste. Bring compensation for public employees down to reasonable levels. If that doesn't give us the savings we need, then raise my taxes. But I don't want higher taxes so that cops can continue to retire at age 42, it's not fair to force me to pay for that.

I was thinking this morning... What are some of the most finanicially failing "industries"? I thought about state governments (about 75% of them) and the car industry. Then I thought about which industries had the most "classically" lazy and unreliable employees and came up with contractors. Then I thought about which employee-group has shown worsening results year after year for the last 50 years and teachers crossed my mind.

then I thought about which people never get fired, have better benefits (health and retirement), work less hours and have more downtime then me and the list was "all of the above that I just listed."

And what's the common theme? You guessed it.

Now, I think unions were historically hugely important and did a LOT of great stuff for all of us. I think some industries deserve unions - particularly the unsafe ones like mining and the like. But really, the writing is so clearly written on the wall and it's time to face reality.

The cover story of the Courant today (Malloy privatizing some stuff) must have made conservatives' heads spin.

@RG: Almost your entire premise is made up, or at least anecdotal at best.

Teachers have become punching bags for disgruntled Americans. And as someone who once planned to be a teacher and who has a pretty broad picture of what it's like to work in public education . . . and I can safely say working as a public school teacher is probably at least as hard and draining as whatever you do. I work a lot in my current career (in IT). I work long hours. I'm on call almost all the time. I'm under a lot of pressure to perfom. But I still wouldn't trade places with a public school teachers.

No offense, but anti-teacher rhetoric is a tired meme often reitterated by people who have no background, or in-depth knowledge in education.

Even the argument of "worsening results" is shaky - drop out rates have decreased steadily over the year and the number of students going to college has gone up.

Government isn't an "industry" and neither is public education. If public education were an "industry" then teachers would be able to fire underperforming students and thus meet all your made up criteria for educational success. They could even downsize - because everyone knows that smaller classrooms are better.

There are 3 things responsible for the deficit: the bad economy and the need (yes, NEED) for stimulus; wars that we have no business being involved in; and the Bush tax cuts. Cut defense spending, let the Bush tax cuts expire, and we're a good way towards solving the problem. @Taxpayer and cronies, I know you keep saying that raising taxes doesn't raise revenue, but I don't get it. What I do get is that when you're trying to balance a budget, you look at two sides of the equation, revenue and expenses. Seems to me the same is true of a government budget.

I also very strongly believe that the stimulus was absolutely the right thing to do. In a shrinking economy, we need to pump money into the system, not take it out. Now is not the time to cut government spending (except where it is wasteful, and I do think there's a lot of that). Now is the time to consider our failing infrastructure to be an opportunity to put people to work fixing roads, bridges, levees, etc. We will not compete in a global economy when our house is falling down around us. What a huge opportunity to create jobs. J

@ Chris: Your assessments of teachers seem anecdotal also. Would a teacher be willing to keep a detailed log of how many hours they work over a period of time. They need to back out free periods during the day they are not grading papers or performing research. What time do they arrive and what time do they leave? How much do they earn and how much do they pay for their benefits? Maybe if we were presented with facts, we could assess for ourselves just how hard teachers have it.

Speaking of jets, has The Dick agreed to pay more fees each he or his wife use a government plane for quasi-official purposes? Can anyone defend Michelle's recent trip to Africa she didn't pay full fare for? How much did she pay for her kids to ride along? What government purpose did their going along serve tax payers? Did he really need to fly a chef in from Chicago to cook him a pizza?

Jennifer, for the millionth time, cutting tax *rates* in 2003 led to record income tax *revenues* in 2004-2008, not only from individuals but also from corporations. Also, the portion of our nation's that is paid by the richest 1% of Americans increased dramatically. This isn't up for debate. Nothing you say can change these facts.

Why did we *need* the stimulus, and what did it "stimulate," anyway, besides the unemployment rate?

Bush 41 raised taxes in a recession and lost. Bush 43 cut taxes in a recession and that led to 4 1/2 years of job growth. You could learn a lot from the Bushes.

Talk about anecdotal! (Psst, my mom was a teacher. My sister is a teacher. My college roomate whom I remain friends with is a teacher. My wife's best friend is a teacher. I'm very close with my son's teachers for special needs reasons. etc.)

I know teachers. are they responsible in any way for our fiscal mess? no, they are not. I didn't say they were. Do they have a tough job? Yes. Are the good ones great? Of course.

But for you to suggest in all seriousness that they work as much as you in IT or I do is just absurd. They don't. Take last week, for example. Name me a teacher that worked last week. Did YOU work last week? Most likely. Did I? Yes. Even summer school teachers had last week off. And 3 week in August off. Oh sure, the ones that care will plan for a week of those three. On and on. They deal with crap that I can't imagine, yes, BUT THEY DO NOT WORK THE HOURS THAT YOU OR I WORK, PERIOD.

"I jsut show movies all day. I hit my tenure last year." - New britain HS teacher, from his/her mouth to my ears 4 days ago.

@HC Here, the guy who called the President a "dick" got suspended from his job. This is a rude and disrespectful way to refer to the President of the United States. It doesn't just hurt Obama; it hurts our country. I find your comments to be deeply offensive. J

"The Dick...blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda"...Yawn...You can't write one thing without being an insulting Dick (your word not mine). BTW...Dick quit in Aug.1973. You remember him. He was a typical screw the Constitution Republican who got caught.

@ Rick: You can't write one thing without being an insulting Dick (yours and MSNBC's words, not mine). BTW, Dick is still around. Surely you know the Illinois Senator who called U.S. soldiers Nazis and who favored Obamacare is still saying higher taxes are needed to avoid hitting the debt ceiling. I wish VP Dick were still around - he didn't as many silly things as VP Joe who last year celebrated "Recovery Summer" and who said he eats every week at Katie's Diner which closed fifteen years ago. I know you like the Dick because every time someone criticizes him you write a well reasoned retort, "blah blah blah blah" and/or "yadda yadda" or insult conservatives.

@ Jennifer: I found calling George W. Bush a Nazi offensive. I found people calling for W's death offensive. I found insults toward Tea Party members offensive. The term "teabagger" is meant to be offensive, yet commentators on television giggle and keep using it. The MSNBC commentator who was suspended called Sarah Palin an "idiot" on tv on several occasions. Chris Matthews last night said Republicans don't know how to read. Is that offensive? Offensive remarks are part of life. Get used to it.

The term "teabagger" is funny AND offensive AND all the more hilarious that early teabaggers called THEMSELVES teabaggers. I will only stop mocking teabaggers if and when they continue their vitriol in 2012 or 2016 when we have a white GOP president who continues to spend, spend, spend like the last 5 white GOP presidents who spent, spent, spent with barely a peep from the baggers.

IF they remain consistent in their ignorant haranguing, only then will I refer to them as tea partiers. ONLY then.